movement or group

Exploring the Power of Rhetoric Purpose: This unit invites you to examine the power of rhetoric and analyze real-life examples of rhetoric in action. You are asked to explore how a chosen social group or movement uses writing and rhetoric to encourage change, whether social change or more individual change. In doing this project, you will learn about how rhetoric can be used to foster change and you will practice writing skills to effectively communicate what you have learned. Task: Your task is to analyze a single text or a number of texts created by a group or movement, and write a report in a genre of your choice (see options below) that explains to an audience of your peers how your chosen group or movement uses writing and rhetoric to facilitate change.

THINGS TO DO FOR THIS PROJECT:

1) Choose a movement or group. 2) Choose a text or texts to analyze. Example: For Black Lives Matter, I might focus my

analysis on their protest events (traffic blocks, die-ins, etc.). OR, I might choose to analyze both their protests and their Instagram posts. I could even analyze songs of the movement such as Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright”. What I choose to analyze depends on my questions and purpose.

3) Reflect on on questions such as the following: what are you curious about when you look at this community/movement and the texts they create? What interests you? What do you want to investigate? For example, where does your movement publish their texts? How do they define their audience? What stylistic choices do they make? What content choices? What choices regarding images, layout, etc? How do such choices relate to their rhetorical purpose/s?

4) Use the reflection questions to guide your analysis of the text or texts. Practice listening to each text, placing it in its rhetorical situation, and describing its rhetorical strategies.

5) Choose a genre to present your results.

TOPIC IDEAS:

➢ Social movements #MeToo, #MMIW, #BlackLivesMatter, #MarchforOurLives, #DACA, #MuslimBan

➢ #NoBanNoWall

➢ Online communities or fandoms on platforms such as Tumblr, YouTube, & Twitter

➢ Organizations related to culture, conservation, or anything you might be interested in

These are just a few ideas. If you think of others that don’t fit into these categories, message me or your TA.

(cont.) ARTIFACT (TEXT) IDEAS:

➢ ads ➢ signs ➢ artwork ➢ poetry

➢ social media posts/pages

➢ videos ➢ speeches

➢ interviews ➢ events ➢ webpages song

CRITERIA FOR A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT This writing project will be evaluated based on the following questions: ● Does the introduction provide relevant context/background info for the project

and communicate your question(s), lens, and purpose/goals? ● Does the analysis thoroughly explore the research question(s)? ● Does the analysis describe in detail the ways in which people use rhetoric to

enact change? ● Does the analysis offer specific details and examples for support? ● Does the analysis accurately apply concepts from class readings and activities? ● Does the conclusion offer the audience at least one takeaway that they can learn

from the analysis? ● Does the conclusion discuss why the topic and analysis are important? ● Does the conclusion explain how the audience can apply what they’ve learned

and/or what they can do as a result of reading this analysis? ● Does the project employ genre effectively, using multimodal resources

thoughtfully, employing design and composition strategies for your rhetorical purposes, rhetorical situation, and chosen genre?

● Is the form logical and easy to follow? ● Does the reflective writer’s note include a rhetorical statement, self-assessment,

and request for additional feedback? ● Is there evidence of proofreading and editing throughout entire project and

writer’s note? CHAPTER READINGS: ● Chapter 2: “Rhetorical Situations” ● Chapter 12: “Writing Analytically” ● Chapter 16: “Starting your Research” ● Chapter 24: “What’s your Style?” ● Chapter 28: “Designing What You Write” ● Chapter 29: “Writing in Multiple Modes”